Buddy to miss races with wife Jesinta after surgery

It was once seen as the warm-up to Melbourne Cup Carnival, but despite the lack of a Birdcage, the Moet & Chandon Spring Champion Stakes Day is fast becoming one of the most glamorous outings on the racing calendar.

And with that comes Sydney's socialites, who are expected to be out in full force at Randwick on Saturday with Jesinta Franklin, 26, to lead the pack to the VIP marquees as the event's ambassador.

Despite being known as a strict healthy eating and living advocate, she said she will "certainly" be having a tipple from the oh-so Instagramable Moet metallic goblets, which this year will be pink instead of gold.

"This is the one time when I can have a drink at work. I plan to get all of my work commitments out of the way early so I can let my hair down and enjoy myself because it has been so strict with work lately. It's still work, but I am also personally really looking forward to it."

She was expected to have her Swannies husband Lance "Buddy" Franklin, 30, on her arm, but with the No. 23 recovering from "a few surgeries", she will take her parents as her date instead.

"Buddy can't come as he's still recovering. He's had a few surgeries, so he's not quite ready for a race day yet. He might watch the races from the pub, but he will come to Caulfield Cup [on October 21]," she said.

The races mark a important milestone for the pair with Derby Day in 2013 being the first time they stepped out in public as a couple.

"I remember getting home after that day and putting on the news and they were talking about us as 'the kiss that stopped a nation'. We thought, 'this is weird'. It was mayhem," she laughed.

"If you said to me then 'in three years you two will be married' [in November 2016], I would have just laughed, but we were."

With the AFL season over for another year, the pair are planning their annual holiday, with the model taking four weeks off to spend with the sportsman, where they will also celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

"The year is so busy for us and this is our time together and what a lot of people don't realise is that he works weekends for a good nine months of the year, so we really cherish our holiday and just thinking of that time off together, it kind of gets us through.

"We fly out the day after Caulfield Cup. It'll be great to have him around, we'll have brekkie and lunch together and maybe some boozy dinners, it will be amazing."

On Saturday, Franklin will wear a "frilly, feminine, tight Zimmermann" number with a wide-brimmed black hat that she joked is so big she will be able to bow her head and avoid people she doesn't want to talk to.

The David Jones ambassador has gotten on board with the race day after the Australian Turf Club parted ways with long-term fashion partner Myer earlier this year.